Hyväksymispäivämäärä

Tiivistelmä

Technological advancements in mobile technologies, improved network coverage, and cheaper data plans have led to an increase in internet browsing via mobile phone. Improvements such as bigger screen sizes, higher resolutions, and touchscreens have led to a better browsing experience compared with when mobile browsing first emerged.

Most of the research concerning mobile browsing seems to focus on website design for smaller screen displays, with very limited research done on the design and functionality of mobile web browsers themselves. Due to the physical constraints and small display screens, the user interface needs to be designed so that users can perform tasks easily and information can be accessed quickly.

This thesis evaluates different features from six of the most popularly used mobile browsers (Chrome, Dolphin, Internet Explorer, Opera Mini, Safari, and the UC Browser) in order to determine which features help to improve the mobile browsing experience. Ten participants were asked to perform several tasks on two mobile browsers and evaluate the browsers based on task difficulty. After all the tasks were completed, participants were asked to evaluate the overall usability of the browser.

The results showed that participants found most tasks easy to perform on all browsers. However, during the test sessions, it was observed that several participants found the tasks of adding a bookmark and locating saved bookmarks slightly difficult. This was due to each browser implementing different designs and using different icons for the bookmarking functionality. Based on interviews concerning their everyday browsing behavior, participants acknowledge that the most used feature is the combined address bar/search bar. Other features, such as bookmarking or customized on-screen keyboards, are either ignored or go unnoticed in favor of faster and more immediate interaction with their browser.